Canada 700 MHz auction raises CAD 5.3 billion

Thursday 20 February 2014 | 08:36 CET | News

Canada has completed its auction of frequencies in the 700 MHz band, awarding 97 licences to eight companies for a total CAD 5.27 billion. The government said the results of the 22-day auction mean there will be at least four operators able to offer services in every region. Operators will also be able to expand LTE services to rural areas.

The big winners of the auction were the existing mobile operators. Bell acquired 31 licences for CAD 566 million total, Telus bought 30 licences for CAD 1.143 billion and Rogers Communications took 22 licences for CAD 3.292 billion. Videotron also acquired seven licences for CAD 233 million, MTS acquired one licence for CAD 9 million, and SaskTel bought one block for CAD 8 million, focusing on their home regions.

Newcomer Bragg took four lots of spectrum for CAD 20 million, and Feenix took one for CAD 0.3 million. Two participants, TBayTel and Novus, did not acquire any spectrum, and one licence went unsold.

Bidders have until 05 March to pay 20 percent of the spectrum fees, with the remainder due by 02 April. The next major auction in Canada will be the 2,500 MHz band, scheduled to begin in April 2015.

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